MY WRITING DAY
AVA GLASS
The author of espionage thrillers tells Lynne Hackles about plotting, concealed identities and machine-gun spurts of writing
Lynne Hackles
Working with British spies at MI5 and MI6 has given the author who uses the pseudonym Ava Glass the knowledge to write about spies. She has trained them, worked in counter-terrorism and even been vetted to become a spy herself. James Patterson has referred to Ava’s feisty lead character, Emma Makepeace, as ‘the heir to James Bond’. Did this add more pressure on her when writing the second book about her female spy?
‘It’s wonderful, and incredibly generous,’ she says. ‘There are vanishingly few women writing spy fiction, so it’s a daunting genre to try and break into. It looks, from the outside, like a boys’ club. So, it’s a genuine pleasure to know that James thinks Emma Makepeace is a worthy presence on the espionage fiction stage. That means everything.’